Monitoring emissions to air, land and water

Businesses who make emissions to air, land and water are regulated by us under strict European and UK laws, to protect the environment and human health.

If your company needs to comply with these laws you will need a permission from us to operate. This permission usually comes in the form of a permit, which usually requires you to monitor your emissions.

Businesses either monitor their emissions all the time, known as continuous monitoring, or at times defined in their permit, known as spot tests or periodic monitoring. In both cases they must meet our quality requirements.

MCERTS is the Environment Agency's Monitoring Certification Scheme. It provides the framework for businesses to meet our quality requirements. If you comply with MCERTS we can have confidence in the monitoring of emissions to the environment.

Find out how MCERTS is used to approve instruments, people and laboratories:

Monitoring guides

• Monitoring technical guidance notes
• Monitoring quick guides
• Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA)
  
  
• Summary of monitoring guidance documents (updated August 2012) (PDF, 92KB)

MCERTS for air monitoring

• Continuous monitoring of industrial chimneys, stacks and flues
• Emissions monitoring from chimney stacks using accredited laboratories and certified staff
• Monitoring ambient air quality
• Monitoring with isokinetic samplers
• Portable equipment for emissions monitoring
  
  
• Choosing a test laboratory (PDF, 84KB)

MCERTS for soil monitoring

• Chemical testing of soil

MCERTS for water monitoring

• Equipment for continuous monitoring discharges to rivers, smaller watercourses and the sea
• Direct toxicity assessment of effluents
• Portable equipment for monitoring water
• Sampling and chemical testing of water
• Self monitoring of effluent flow
• Radioanalytical testing of water

MCERTS for environmental data management software

• Performance standards and test procedures for environmental data management software